Nutshell Review: Blonde Crazy (1931)
Director: Roy Del Ruth
Starring: James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Louis Calhern
Studio: Warner Bros.
Viewing:
Plot: Cagney & Blondell are two con-men teetering on love as they work their way towards bigger and bigger cons. When they meet Cagney is a small town hotel bellhop, always on the make; always looking for an angle or the next score. He even keeps a scrapbook of all the con artists & there scams as a reference guide. Blondell plays Annie Roberts, a beauty that Cagney’s Bert Harris immediately sizes up as his next conquest. She’s looking for a job as a chamber maid. Bert manipulates a couple of people to get her the job, anticipating an easy coupling as repayment. In the first of many times that Annie slaps Bert, he realizes she’s no easy mark. They do partner up for business, however, swindling a doughy businessman/mark out of $5,000 in a con after he is caught ‘red handed’ in the back seat with Annie & a bottle of hooch (Old Grand Dad, for those scoring at home).
This leads the team to bigger cons in the big city, where they meet Dapper Dan Barker, played by Louis Callhern, who has a get rich quick scheme for Bert that involves lots of counterfeit money. Needless to say using a pretty blonde, played by Noel Francis, to turn Bert’s head, Dapper Dan scams Bert out of the $5,000 he & Annie have split. Bert scams and then pawns a $15,000 bracelet to cover his losses and heads to New York to get even with Dapper Dan. Pulling a con worthy of The Sting, and very similar, if only more mobile, Annie dupes Dapper Dan out of $7,500.
Unfortunately, after the con, Annie & Bert are dividing their money when Bert openly declares his sincere love for Annie. She has, however, fallen in love with an upstanding Wall Street banker and plans to marry, telling Bert “if only you had told me this, the way you just did, about 6 months ago.” Bert is heartbroken and watches the wedding from afar, commenting when asked if it’s a wedding or a funeral that “it’s both.”
Flashing forward 1 year and Bert has given up the con game life, surviving on his past earnings. He even turns down a sure thing shipping swastika good luck charms to the families of the recently deceased. (Apparently, swastika’s were good luck charms before WW2. In a post-release cut an image of the swastika charm has been removed from existing prints). Annie comes to Bert to ask him to run a con to save her husband, who has embezzled $15,000 in bonds from his firm. Plotting to stage a robbery to cover the missing bonds, Bert is double crossed by Annie’s husband and arrested. Bert is shot while fleeing and sent to jail where Annie visits him and confesses her love, promising to spill the robbery plot and wait for Bert’s release. The End.
Thoughts: Cagney & Blondell, who would be paired at least 6 more times (including Public Enemy), are a perfectly matched couple. Having starred together on Broadway in Penny Arcade (Later made into Sinner’s Holiday), they had an easy rapport that translated immediately. I’m not sure how many times the love/hate, do they/don’t they relationship had been played out in movies before this, but Blonde Crazy certainly is the template for everything that has come since. (Think Moonlighting or When Harry Met Sally for 2 semi-recent examples). It’s clear they love each other, but the timing or approach just isn’t right until it’s too late. She keeps reminding him of his childish ways and repays his come ons with slap after slap. Blondell is luminous in a sweet and sexy way. She gives Cagney everything he can handle and remains his equal throughout, which is no easy task. Their chemistry is never clearer than in an offhand call and response after a big heist. While he calls her ‘honeeee’ throughout the picture, she finally responds by calling him ‘babyeeee’ in the same singsong voice. It’s endearing and casual in its intimacy.
Cagney’s overwhelming personality and charm are evident throughout. He’s a well-meaning cheat, always looking for an angle, but blind to the biggest ‘score’ right in front of his nose. There’s one moment when the couple are leaving their hotel room right after Annie has told Bert of her love for another man, when Bert, clearly distraught holds his hat, bows and then with dances grace snaps himself out of the room.
Category: Pre-code
See Also: Public Enemy, Three on a Match, Crowd Roars, Night Nurse, Footlight Parade
Random Quotes & Notes:
“There is no such thing as a movie so good that it could not be made a little better by Joan Blondell.” –Mick LaSalle Complicated Women, p134.
Links:
http://immortalephemera.com/?s=blonde+crazy
http://pre-code.com/blonde-crazy-1931-review-james-cagney-joan-blondell/
https://movieclassics.wordpress.com/2008/09/30/blonde-crazy-1931/
Director: Roy Del Ruth
Starring: James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Louis Calhern
Studio: Warner Bros.
Viewing:
Plot: Cagney & Blondell are two con-men teetering on love as they work their way towards bigger and bigger cons. When they meet Cagney is a small town hotel bellhop, always on the make; always looking for an angle or the next score. He even keeps a scrapbook of all the con artists & there scams as a reference guide. Blondell plays Annie Roberts, a beauty that Cagney’s Bert Harris immediately sizes up as his next conquest. She’s looking for a job as a chamber maid. Bert manipulates a couple of people to get her the job, anticipating an easy coupling as repayment. In the first of many times that Annie slaps Bert, he realizes she’s no easy mark. They do partner up for business, however, swindling a doughy businessman/mark out of $5,000 in a con after he is caught ‘red handed’ in the back seat with Annie & a bottle of hooch (Old Grand Dad, for those scoring at home).
This leads the team to bigger cons in the big city, where they meet Dapper Dan Barker, played by Louis Callhern, who has a get rich quick scheme for Bert that involves lots of counterfeit money. Needless to say using a pretty blonde, played by Noel Francis, to turn Bert’s head, Dapper Dan scams Bert out of the $5,000 he & Annie have split. Bert scams and then pawns a $15,000 bracelet to cover his losses and heads to New York to get even with Dapper Dan. Pulling a con worthy of The Sting, and very similar, if only more mobile, Annie dupes Dapper Dan out of $7,500.
Unfortunately, after the con, Annie & Bert are dividing their money when Bert openly declares his sincere love for Annie. She has, however, fallen in love with an upstanding Wall Street banker and plans to marry, telling Bert “if only you had told me this, the way you just did, about 6 months ago.” Bert is heartbroken and watches the wedding from afar, commenting when asked if it’s a wedding or a funeral that “it’s both.”
Flashing forward 1 year and Bert has given up the con game life, surviving on his past earnings. He even turns down a sure thing shipping swastika good luck charms to the families of the recently deceased. (Apparently, swastika’s were good luck charms before WW2. In a post-release cut an image of the swastika charm has been removed from existing prints). Annie comes to Bert to ask him to run a con to save her husband, who has embezzled $15,000 in bonds from his firm. Plotting to stage a robbery to cover the missing bonds, Bert is double crossed by Annie’s husband and arrested. Bert is shot while fleeing and sent to jail where Annie visits him and confesses her love, promising to spill the robbery plot and wait for Bert’s release. The End.
Thoughts: Cagney & Blondell, who would be paired at least 6 more times (including Public Enemy), are a perfectly matched couple. Having starred together on Broadway in Penny Arcade (Later made into Sinner’s Holiday), they had an easy rapport that translated immediately. I’m not sure how many times the love/hate, do they/don’t they relationship had been played out in movies before this, but Blonde Crazy certainly is the template for everything that has come since. (Think Moonlighting or When Harry Met Sally for 2 semi-recent examples). It’s clear they love each other, but the timing or approach just isn’t right until it’s too late. She keeps reminding him of his childish ways and repays his come ons with slap after slap. Blondell is luminous in a sweet and sexy way. She gives Cagney everything he can handle and remains his equal throughout, which is no easy task. Their chemistry is never clearer than in an offhand call and response after a big heist. While he calls her ‘honeeee’ throughout the picture, she finally responds by calling him ‘babyeeee’ in the same singsong voice. It’s endearing and casual in its intimacy.
Cagney’s overwhelming personality and charm are evident throughout. He’s a well-meaning cheat, always looking for an angle, but blind to the biggest ‘score’ right in front of his nose. There’s one moment when the couple are leaving their hotel room right after Annie has told Bert of her love for another man, when Bert, clearly distraught holds his hat, bows and then with dances grace snaps himself out of the room.
Category: Pre-code
See Also: Public Enemy, Three on a Match, Crowd Roars, Night Nurse, Footlight Parade
Random Quotes & Notes:
“There is no such thing as a movie so good that it could not be made a little better by Joan Blondell.” –Mick LaSalle Complicated Women, p134.
Links:
http://immortalephemera.com/?s=blonde+crazy
http://pre-code.com/blonde-crazy-1931-review-james-cagney-joan-blondell/
https://movieclassics.wordpress.com/2008/09/30/blonde-crazy-1931/
|
|
|
|